OBM Tip of the Week

Coaching Approach Tactic #5: Recognize that a business is one of the world’s most effective vehicles for personal transformation there is.

As an Online Business Manager the trials and tribulations you go through as you invest in the vision of your clients will coach you, if you let them.

One of your clients is taking a sabbatical for three months and you will earn considerably less. Have you become a little complacent about your work as an OBM and what will this 3-month window allow you to do, or become, as a person and a professional?

The business is taking a new turn and you don’t have the specialized expertise required. Is this an opportunity for you to release your preference to be the one who knows every­thing? Can your identity as a success survive the fact that you won’t be the smart one in this scenario?

You’re in a low energy mood for a while and you realize it’s because you’re tired of using a coaching approach with your client! Instead, you turn it on yourself and ask yourself where are you not stretching?

The ways in which a coaching approach can be applied to your path as an OBM are limitless. In fact, I would encour­age you not to think of a coaching approach as something you turn on and off, or as a blanket you put on top of something. It’s the inner fuel that drives the work, not decoration.

As you read on in the chapters that follow, I know you’ll benefit beyond measure from what is provided as concrete direction for how to play a bigger role with your clients and yourself. Read and listen closely and you’ll see a coaching approach between the lines, and that this theme runs as a thread throughout the OBM conversation. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that quite possibly, without a coaching approach to business, the OBM role would not have emerged quite this way!

The very best OBMs are an embodiment of the coaching approach and speaking as a business owner, I’m incredibly grateful for this.

I hope you don’t mind if I say on behalf of the business owners whose lives and business you will touch, thank you, for your willingness to wade into these uncharted waters.

You’re about to enter into the guts of the “doing” part of the book, where the “what you do” steps are revealed. As you soak in the wisdom there, read with a coaching approach in mind. And when you’re ready to apply a coaching approach in real-life, here are some sample questions you can refer back to:

As we talk about X (where X is a new project, idea, prob­lem that needs solving), what happens in your physical body?

Why do you think X is happening? (Where X is a recur­ring problem, results that aren’t as stellar as hoped, an emotional reaction on the part of the client)

Would you prefer to earn more money and work a little more, or earn about the same amount of money and work a lot less?

What is the end goal of your business – is it to work it until you retire at a certain time? Sell it to someone for a lump sum? Have it be run by a team while you pursue other interests?

What other area of your life have you experienced suc­cess in? What can you transfer from that success and apply to your business? (A person trained in martial arts might recognize they aren’t being as strict or disciplined with themselves in their business as they can be, and can enjoy being.)

Coaching Approach Tactic #4: Come to under­stand that the business can only grow to the extent, and at the rate that, the business owner grows as a person.

I call this the “Paul Principle,” in sharp contrast to the “Peter Principle” which says that in corporations, people will rise to the level of their incompetency and then stay there. Likewise, in any given business, the growth of the business will rise or fall to the level of the business owner’s personal development. If a business owner isn’t willing to look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge their whole selves, experience says the business won’t be able to make big shifts either.

Applying this once again to our scenario, let’s use our imagi­nations to illustrate this tactic.

Is it possible that the business owner has made a habit of requesting to start lots of new projects at the last minute, within short timeframes, only to abandon them later, making deadlines moot (and downright annoying)?

Is it possible the business owner “owed” something to the virtual assistant and didn’t follow through, preventing the VA from being able to proceed and leaving the VA feeling unable to speak “truth to power” out of fear?

Could we consider the fact that the business owner is some­one of such high profile that the VA has put herself in a state of ultra-sensitivity, worrying about her performance and in awe about her association with this person, resulting in her being paralyzed and stuck?

Especially when it comes to the online world, these are the subtexts that can often emerge ONLY when a coaching-approach is taken. Based on the scenario and tactics above, I hope you’re beginning to grasp what it means to take a coaching approach as an Online Business Manager. It can be boiled down to something very simple:

It’s not only what you do but HOW you do it that will set you apart.

So how do you translate this into the way of being that is the heart of what an Online Business Manager is?

There’s no requirement that you become a coach or take coach training, however if you do, it will without question better equip you for your OBM career as well as transform your life. Start with the basic tenet that underlines every­thing coaching:

Coaching Approach Tactic #1: Assume every­one is doing their very best, especially when they don’t seem like it.

This means that even though the Virtual Assistant crashed and burned, there is a story behind it. Not even just that their dog is ill, or they’re overworked, either. Very often it can mean that (1) expectations of the project weren’t clear in the beginning (2) they did not realize they were welcome to ask “stupid” questions (3) prior experience on projects for this business had deadlines that were flexible or even (4) their self-esteem is low for unrelated reasons and they aren’t good at setting personal boundaries or saying no.

Coaching Approach Tactic #2: Set up a business culture that requires over-communication, always. And that the only real mistake that can occur is the failure to com­municate early.

In an online business situation, the majority of unknown “gotcha’s” will be prevented with the application of this one coaching approach tactic. I’ve been known to get very ada­mant when emphasizing this one, along the lines of:

“You can’t get it wrong UNLESS you don’t tell me you’re get­ting it wrong.” Translation? The only real mistake is a failure to communicate. You can call me up in the middle of the night and tell me things are doing horribly, and really, I will be much more okay with it than not knowing until it’s too late.

Coaching Approach Tactic #3: Be serenely confident in the fact that until you successfully go through a conflict or sensitive negotiation with someone, you don’t know the true nature of the relationship.

I am of the conviction that until you have to go through a tough or even just touchy something with someone, you aren’t really friends. Perhaps because Tina and I only ever work with clients we respect as much as our friends, we apply this to our business relationships too.

As an OBM who’s in it for the long haul, and wants to really reach the pinnacle of success available, be open and willing to embrace conflict. Take feedback as a vitamin and strengthen your internal self each time. Use the other coaching approach tactics here to anchor your conflict in productive conversation. Remember that to the degree you can be serene through a conflict, the more you are learn­ing and the less likely you’ll have to go through this same conflict again, in another form.

How does this apply in our scenario? In mentoring OBMs over the years, we’ve come to recognize that managing con­flict is one of the most difficult things an OBM does. Your goal is to be able to transcend the fear of initiating quickly, the conversations that need to happen with the errant VA and also of presenting the ugly problem to your client.

I have a coaching client who has been in business for over four years now, and has a number of people on her team who have worked with her that entire time. We were talk­ing recently about ways that she can get out of the day-to-day needs of her business so she can focus more on growth activities. I asked about the current people on her team and whether any of them might be ready to take on a bigger role within her business. Her response:

“There is one girl I’ve worked with for years who does a great job, but she always refers to it as ‘your business.’ For example she will say ‘Here is an update for YOUR webpage’ or ‘What do YOU want to do here.’ Never does she say OUR, US or WE when talking about the work we do together, even after all these years. So I don’t get the sense that she really cares about my business”

Can you see what my client is saying here? The words that her team member is using are drawing a line between her client’s business and the work she is doing for her client. She isn’t really showing that she is engaged or invested in the work.

This is such an interesting distinction! On one hand I totally get why this is happening – after all, it isn’t the team mem­bers business, so why should she act as though it is? This is how most contractors (and employees) act with our clients (and employers). We draw a line in the sand between the two of us, and I believe that’s in order to keep ourselves safe from the impact our work has on our client’s business.

We’re not going to get deep into the psychology of why this happens, but I would really like to challenge this status quo way of working.

When a client hires us to work with them and contribute to their business in some way, it truly is a collaborative effort. Whether it’s doing their filing or helping them create a new product line, the end result is created together. While the client may own that result, energetically you are a part of it as well.

Take a look at the words you use when talking to or about your clients. Are you saying YOURS or OURS? YOU or WE? Pay attention to what you are saying or typing over the next few days, and make note of it.

I challenge you to start using more inclusive language and pay attention to how that feels. Does it make you uncom­fortable? If so, dig a little bit into that and see what’s up. Perhaps you need to do a bit of personal work to feel com­fortable with this level of engagement. It could be you feel you don’t deserve it, or perhaps you truly don’t have confi­dence in the work you do. Or maybe there is an issue with the client that you need to face. This can be a tough process indeed, but don’t be afraid to shine that light on what is going on behind the scenes.

Being plugged in as a part of your client’s business is abso­lutely essential to working in an OBM capacity. If you aren’t able to do that then this may not be the best role for you.

Being that this is the marketing mindset, we naturally want to be looking for ways that we can help to build and grow (market!) our client’s business. The specific strategies will vary depending on the client’s overall business plan and niche market. As an OBM you will want to be familiar with and/ or practically experienced in all facets of Internet marketing including:

Product planning and research
Copywriting
Website design and creation
Creation of graphics and user interface
Product packaging
Traffic generation
Conversion and The overall strategic marketing plan that creates a cohesive whole out of these elements

You may or may not be the one to actually do some of these marketing activities (depending on your background and strengths), however you DO need to understand Internet marketing and how all the pieces fit together. As an OBM there are also some more subtle ways to look at marketing activities. Whether it’s for a specific product or promotion or just throughout the day, I like to ask myself, “What else can we do here?” There are quite often simple little things that can make a big difference in the long run, such as:

Setting up “Tell a friend” modules on the Thank You page after purchases, so that it is easy for people to send recommendations to their friends

Implementing an email signature that promotes your clients’ free offers and/or products for sale (ensure everyone on the team is using the signatures)

Creating a digital version of a live event or class to sell separately or as a package

Adding an effective P.S. at the bottom of a sales page

Making the Buy buttons on a sales page extra attractive and noticeable

Creating an upsell on the order page for a product, for example, “Buy this book together with our workbook and save 15%”

Putting a little extra “oomph” and adding keywords into the title of an article

Introducing clients to each other so they can cross-promote

Being on the lookout for new easy places to promote, advertise or find joint venture partners

Adding more autoresponder messages that follow up with previous customers so they are reminded to visit your client’s offerings again

Business-savvy professionals who are ready to start serving online based businesses

Just the other day I spoke to a lovely woman about our Hot Skills VA Training program, where we teach online skills and tools to virtual assistants (details at www.HotSkillsVA­Training.com). She and her husband ran a very successful embroidery business for years, where he was the tech whiz and she was the marketing pro. After selling the business, she decided she wanted to work online. Not necessarily as a VA, but in some kind of capacity where she can help clients use the power of the Internet to grow their businesses.

“Sounds like you want to be an Online Business Manager,” I said to her. After explaining to her a bit more of what the role is about, she was thrilled to realize that it was even a possibility!

Being a successful business owner herself, she definitely already has what I call a marketing mindset (I’ll speak more about this in the next section), which is an essential piece of being a successful OBM.

With a strong business background and marketing mind­set, anyone can learn the online tools and skills necessary to become an OBM.

After all, business is business. Whether it is an online or tra­ditional business it all boils down to the same thing – create value that people will pay for.

This type of potential OBM is probably one of the most exciting to me, especially when I consider someone like the stay-at-home mom or dad. They have chosen to stay home with their children instead of going back to work, and may have amazing business and marketing skills that are lying dormant for the time being.

Many of them would love to be able to work, if only there was an opportunity that allowed them the flexibility to be home with their children while making a living. I know there are potential OBMs at home watching (yet another!) episode of Barney and wishing they could use their brain for more than memorizing the songs from kid shows.

Or, as anyone who has ever worked in the corporate world knows, there are MANY talented people out there who are under-utilized and essentially miserable in their jobs. (This could be you!) My friend Pamela Slim has an excellent blog called EscapeFromCubicleNation.com, where she helps people transform from corporate prisoner to thriving entre­preneur. One of the most common challenges her readers face is that they know they want to get out of their jobs, but they have no idea what to do next.

It is to these business-savvy professionals in particular that I send a “virtual poke” to consider becoming an Online Business Manager.